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Monday, August 27, 2012

Series Recap: Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe

So, there are no more Wednesdays in August, and that meas that the Marvel limited series Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe has come to an end. For those of you who read my review of issue #1, you'll notice that I didn't write anything about issues 2-4. Because this was a limited series, and because I didn't want to spoil anything for anybody, I decided to keep my mouth blissfully shut until the series had come to an end and talk about the series as a whole instead of issue-by-issue.

FOR MY READERS THAT HAVE NOT READ THE SERIES:This post contains spoilers. That's what the jump is for! If you intend on reading this series, and don't want important details about it ruined for you, DO NOT read this post! For everyone else, the post continues after the jump!

Overall, I was mostly pleased with the series. I'll get to what I didn't like later. DKtMU was as fast paced as I was hoping it would be, keeping me turning pages and begging for more. Waiting a week between releases was almost torturous. The art was gritty and matched the tone of the story quite well.

Part of what I liked best (other than that it was blissfully short) was that there were a few genuinely funny dark moments. (See: issue two, with Howard the Duck.) Other moments actually made me chuckle out loud. (Thor is a great example of this, as is Wade's short exchange with Wolverine.) The series is truly dark humor done properly, and Deadpool is in his element the entire time. This is honestly Deadpool as he was meant to be. Even when longtime frenemy of Deadpool, Taskmaster was sent in at the end of issue three, I was enjoying where the series was going.

That being said, I was disappointed with the ending. And it's not because Tasky bit it, either. It's because the end - the very last few pages - seemed almost like a cop-out. Yeah, yeah, I get it. The whole point was to destroy the entire universe, so it (technically) made sense that 'Pool would attack the writers themselves and leave his final words pointed directly at the reader. But if Taskmaster understood what was going on, and it was made clear that he did when he was talking with Deadpool, I feel that he really could have had a more important role in the story that would have been far more interesting and still have been finished in those last six or so pages.

Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe is out, in its entirety, as we speak. You can pick it up at any comic store. To find one near you, check out comicshoplocator.com.